Most people seem to think of an ice age as a global condition of ice and snow. Well, this does happen. The last time was several hundred million years ago. More frequently, we have what is called a "Little Ice Age". This happens about every 1,600 years. This is a period of extremely cold winters and cooler summers. The polar caps ice over and the various mountain ranges around the globe lay covered in snow all year long. During a "Little Ice Age" the cooler temperatures decrease the plant life just enough to cause a gradual build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere. Remember, plants absorb CO2 and release oxygen. This increase of greenhouse gases causes the earth to slowly warm an average of 6-14°F. The warmer temperatures cause the ice and snow to melt which increases rain fall, and thus, increases plant growth. As the plant population increases, the CO2 is absorbed by them. This lowers the global temperatures. The whole series of events is seen as cyclic. The problem we have now is that we just came out of a "Little Ice Age", back around the year 1850, and should be seeing greenhouse gases deminish. But, we see these gases at levels 200 times what they should be instead, due to the abuse of hydrocarbon fuels over the past 160 years. Deforestation isn't helping matters much either. This is causing the ice caps to melt too quickly. The result being an ever increasing global average temperature. These temperature increases are causing severe storms to form that are sustained for prolonged periods of time. These temperatures are also causing the continental ice of the Antarctic to slide into the sea, which will raise the sea level by about 150 feet within the next 7 to 20 years. Of course, this is all just fiction, isn't it? These are just my opinions, right? This is how I've begun to understand all the confusing data being published on the issue of climate change, so, forgive me if I seem to be out in left field on all of this. I'm NOT a scientist of any kind.